Month: September 2017

After the excitement of the Invictus Games opening ceremony and the appearance of Meghan Markle at a tennis match on Monday, I was half expecting news coming out of the rest of the week’s events to die down and have been pleasantly surprised that it hasn’t. Harry has been greeted like a rockstar everywhere he’s gone, former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden made a stop, and one toddler briefly became internet famous thanks to stealing Harry’s popcorn. Let’s get into it.

We’ve talked about Elizabeth Woodville’s wedding date, her siblings and what the significance of her filling the role of Edward IV’s consort was before, but we’ve never just straight up covered her life from beginning to end. Elizabeth has seen a surge in popularity over the last decade, which doesn’t surprise me – it’s honestly more surprising that it took this long for her to get trendy. She had two husbands, 12 children and seemingly nine lives. She was a commoner who married a king, accused of witchcraft and sensationally beautiful. She lived through the reigns of five kings, was mother to another queen consort, attached to one of history’s biggest murder mysteries and may have ended her days under glorified house arrest. In short, there was a lot going on.

A few weeks ago we covered the 1644 flight of Henrietta Maria of France from England to France in the middle of the Civil War. Her departure came on the heels of giving birth to her ninth and final child, a daughter she named Henrietta Anne (“Minette”). The Princess remained in England under the care of guardians for two years until she was spirited out of the country in the summer of 1646 to join her mother in France.

Her escape was like something from an adventure novel – the trusted noblewoman put in charge of her, Lady Dalkeith, disguised herself as a hunchbacked French peasant and passed off Minette as a boy named Pierre. Aided by servants who waited three days to sound the alarm that they were gone, the two managed to leave the country unscathed despite Minette’s insistence on telling everyone they encountered that her name wasn’t Pierre, but “Princess,” and her real clothes were much nicer. A girl after my own heart.

Prince Harry brought an unexpected guest with him to an Invictus Games event today – Miss Meghan Markle. After Meghan’s attendance at Saturday night’s opening ceremony, I was leaning towards the thought that we probably wouldn’t see her again until the Games’ close on the 30th, if at all. And yet, lo and behold, here she is, sitting directly next to and holding hands with Harry at an official royal engagement.

George III was famously disinclined to let his daughters marry thanks to the marital follies of his siblings. And while that feeling may have been spearheaded by George, it was supported by his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, particularly after George began showing signs of mental illness. Of the couple’s six daughters, only three married, but of those three, only one married before she was middle-aged. That daughter was the eldest: Charlotte, the Princess Royal.

And so the Invictus Games are officially open and underway. Prince Harry traveled to Toronto at the end of last week to meet and greet athletes, visit with participating government officials and representatives and host the opening ceremony. The headline news, of course, is that Meghan Markle turned up for the launch on Saturday night.

Before Margaret Tudor married James IV of Scotland in 1503, there was another English Margaret who married a king of Scotland. And while this marriage didn’t bring about Great Britain, it did put the wheels in motion for what would lead to the wars between England and Scotland during the reign of Margaret’s brother, Edward I, solidifying centuries of tension between the two countries.

If there was one element that impacted the psychological makeup of Edward VII more than any other it was the fact that he was a disappointment to his parents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. That’s not conjecture – it was something they took pains to verbalize to him, write to him and discuss about him to others. His complete and total failure to meet their exacting and lofty standards for a perfect prince and heir was so plainly understood by the entire Royal Family and the Queen’s government that it practically howls off the historical record.

Kensington Palace announced today that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will host a reception at Buckingham Palace in honor of World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10). Recognizing the work of mental health advocates and organizations across the UK, the event is very much in line with the trio’s work on behalf of Heads Together. It will also mark Kate’s first public appearance since the announcement that she is pregnant with her and William’s third child and is suffering from HG.

On April 12, 1533, Anne Boleyn appeared before Henry VIII’s court for the first time as queen. She was four months pregnant after a calculated gamble she and Henry took the previous autumn to secretly marry and consummate their relationship. For Henry this meant a frantic winter and early spring finalizing his divorce from Katherine of Aragon and solidifying the legality of his second marriage. For Anne, the quick conception was nothing short of a complete victory. Henry moved heaven and earth to make Anne his wife – her half of the deal was to deliver the son and heir he so desperately wanted.